By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
Texas students scored lower on the reading and writing portions of the SAT this year, but scores jumped slightly in math. The College Board, the nonprofit membership group that owns the exam, reported Tuesday that the average math score for the Texas class of 2009 was 506, up one point from last year.
In reading, Texas students dropped two points to 486. The biggest decline, however, was in writing, where the average score dropped five points to 475. A perfect score on each section is 800.
Texas scores remained well below the national average on each section. A little over half of last year's graduating seniors took the SAT college entrance exam.
Cowboys coach, aide sue over collapsed facility
Two Dallas Cowboys employees seriously injured when the team's indoor practice facility collapsed in May have filed lawsuits against the companies that built the structure.
Scouting assistant Rich Behm and special teams coach Joe DeCamillis filed separate lawsuits Tuesday in state district court in Dallas against Summit Structures LLC and others involved in building the steel and fabric facility.
The suits, which seek unspecified damages, charge the companies with gross negligence.
Behm was paralyzed from the waist down when the building collapsed in a wind storm on May 2. DeCamillis suffered a broken vertebrae.
Ruling favors Latino voters in Texas Democrat suit
Latino advocates are claiming victory over a federal court ruling that could put the complicated "Texas Two-step" presidential delegate system in jeopardy.
The decision Tuesday by a three-judge federal court panel in San Antonio favored Latino voters who say their vote was diluted during last year's intense Texas Democratic primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Under the ruling, Latino advocates moved closer toward its goal of the Justice Department reviewing whether the delegate system violates the Voting Rights Act. The ruling, however, did not come out and require the Texas Democratic Party to seek federal pre-clearance.
The party says it is reviewing the court's opinion.
Bad valve forces NASA to call off shuttle launch
NASA has called off the launch of space shuttle Discovery because of a bad fuel valve.
Launch officials halted the countdown late Tuesday afternoon, midway through the fueling process. The seven astronauts had not yet boarded the shuttle for the scheduled early Wednesday morning flight to the international space station. A new launch date was not immediately set.
NASA spokesman Allard Beutel says engineers were trying to open and shut the fill-and-drain valve in Discovery's engine compartment when it looked to be broken. The exact condition of the valve is not yet known.
The valve is used for the flow of liquid hydrogen from the external fuel tank to the main engines.
It's the second launch delay in as many days for Discovery. Tuesday's launch was called off because of thunderstorms.
Deal scuttled in dispute over SMU's Bush library
A deal has evaporated that would have ended the property dispute involving George W. Bush's presidential library at Southern Methodist University.
Two former condominium owners filed a lawsuit accusing the school of illegally taking control of a nearby Dallas condo complex and forcing out the residents.
A court hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Last month, former condo owners Gary Vodicka and Robert Tafel reached confidential agreements with SMU to end the dispute.
University attorney Mark Lanier today said Vodicka and Tafel backed out of the settlement to try to squeeze more money from the school.
But Vodicka contends the deal with SMU fell apart after the university tried to expand the settlement beyond its original terms.
An attorney for Tafel didn't immediately comment.